Weekly Crime Report

Beer Googles
At approximately 1:54am on Oct. 18, a police officer noticed two males lying in the sidewalk in the 100 block of West Mercer Street in a large pool of what appeared to be their own blood. As one of the men was struggling to stand up, the other remained completely unconscious. When questioned by police, the conscious man reported that while leaving a bar in the vicinity, a group of three men grabbed his hair and gave him a knee to the face. He described the suspects to police, but when officers found three men matching the victim’s description he was too engulfed in alcohol to positively identify them. No blood was found on the suspects, who insisted that no fight had taken place. The three suspects were questioned and released.

Stolen Tiles
A local construction company reported that sometime over the weekend of Oct. 17, someone had hindered the completion of a new condominium site on 14th Avenue West by taking more than 200 large tiles. Nothing else was missing, which the company noted was unusual due to the vast array of expensive tools and other supplies that were laying around the building in plain sight.

Residential Break-in
On Oct. 17, upon returning from a two-day trip, a man told police that he had found a broken window on the south side of his home in the 2800 block of 14th Avenue West. Muddy footprints were found inside the home both on a television stand and a built-in shelving unit adjacent to the broken window. Although the intruder had obviously laid hands on numerous items throughout the home, they apparently forgot to take anything.

Transient Encounter
On the afternoon of Oct. 18, the manager of a business in the 500 block of Dexter Avenue North stopped by to pick up some paperwork and observed what appeared to be a transient male preparing to camp in the doorway. When asked what he was doing, the transient replied that he was preparing to catch some shut-eye. The transient then packed his belongings and departed. When the manager entered the doorway in question, he noticed that the door had not been completely closed and that a mere tug on the doorknob allowed access to the building. The manager then observed that although two doors leading to a mechanical room appeared to have been kicked, entry had not been achieved. He also noticed that the door jamb to the main office appeared to have been damaged. When surveying the contents of the room, nothing appeared to be missing, including the contents of the refrigerator. In an adjoining office room a floor-mounted steel safe had several pry marks, but was unopened.

Serial Burglar
On the morning of Oct. 19, employees of an unoccupied commercial office building in the 500 block of Dexter Avenue North discovered that someone had broken into their property by smashing a small window next to the front door. Once inside, the suspect disabled the lock on a back door by taping the locking push-bar down to allow re-entry at a later time. This incident may be related to another break-in reported next door.